DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9187#0301
GREEK SARCOPHAGI
245
of the Egyptian form, the body being plain, and the cover
imitating the form of a mummy with the face exposed. But
in the fifth century these faces show the dominance of Greek
style. And as the rule of Greek art in the Levant becomes
during that century more pronounced, the mummy-like sarco-
phagus gives place to forms better suited for offering a suitable
field to the sculptor, and the fiat surfaces are adorned with
reliefs, which in style if not in subject are of pure Greek
type. We will briefly describe the four principal sculptured
sarcophagi under the names which have been for convenience
assigned to them, and in chronological order: (1) The Tomb
of the Satrap, (2) The Lycian Tomb, (3) The Tomb of the
Mourning Women, (4) The Alexander Tomb.
The Tomb of the Satrap is assigned by Studniczka to
the middle of the fifth century, and though the freedom of
pose of some of the figures sculptured on it may make us
hesitate before accepting quite so early a date, it certainly
belongs to the century. Three of the four scenes which adorn
the sides and ends of the tomb are clearly scenes from the
history of one man, no doubt the hero contained in it, a per-
sonage represented as having a long beard, and usually wearing
the conical hat of the Persians and Phrygians. The scene
of one of the ends (Fig. 80)1 recalls the gable of the Nereid
monument. The bearded man reclines on a couch at table,
holding in his hand a winecup. His wife is seated at his feet;
in attendance on him are two young men, one of whom fills
a rhyton or drinking horn from a jug. We have here a scheme
closely like that of the sepulchral banquet of Athens. And
though the reference may be primarily to the family repast
of the palace, yet considering that the sculptor was a Greek,
it is scarcely likely that all reference to what was beyond the
1 This and the subsequent engravings are taken from the plates of the
magnificent work of Hamdy Bey and M. Thdodore Reinach, Une ne'cropoh
royale a Sidott, by kind permission of authors and publisher.
245
of the Egyptian form, the body being plain, and the cover
imitating the form of a mummy with the face exposed. But
in the fifth century these faces show the dominance of Greek
style. And as the rule of Greek art in the Levant becomes
during that century more pronounced, the mummy-like sarco-
phagus gives place to forms better suited for offering a suitable
field to the sculptor, and the fiat surfaces are adorned with
reliefs, which in style if not in subject are of pure Greek
type. We will briefly describe the four principal sculptured
sarcophagi under the names which have been for convenience
assigned to them, and in chronological order: (1) The Tomb
of the Satrap, (2) The Lycian Tomb, (3) The Tomb of the
Mourning Women, (4) The Alexander Tomb.
The Tomb of the Satrap is assigned by Studniczka to
the middle of the fifth century, and though the freedom of
pose of some of the figures sculptured on it may make us
hesitate before accepting quite so early a date, it certainly
belongs to the century. Three of the four scenes which adorn
the sides and ends of the tomb are clearly scenes from the
history of one man, no doubt the hero contained in it, a per-
sonage represented as having a long beard, and usually wearing
the conical hat of the Persians and Phrygians. The scene
of one of the ends (Fig. 80)1 recalls the gable of the Nereid
monument. The bearded man reclines on a couch at table,
holding in his hand a winecup. His wife is seated at his feet;
in attendance on him are two young men, one of whom fills
a rhyton or drinking horn from a jug. We have here a scheme
closely like that of the sepulchral banquet of Athens. And
though the reference may be primarily to the family repast
of the palace, yet considering that the sculptor was a Greek,
it is scarcely likely that all reference to what was beyond the
1 This and the subsequent engravings are taken from the plates of the
magnificent work of Hamdy Bey and M. Thdodore Reinach, Une ne'cropoh
royale a Sidott, by kind permission of authors and publisher.